12 July 2019

Food Package Health Claims

Welcome back. Growing up in the 1940s, the only cold cereals we ever saw were Corn Flakes, Wheaties and Rice Krispies and later Cheerios. Kix was available, but my mother thought it was too sweet; we already had too many cavities.

One thing I knew for sure was that whatever the front of the cereal box said was true. Wheaties was the Breakfast of Champions. Rice Krispies did go Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Nowadays, well, what exactly do claims like low fat or low sugar or high fiber mean? Not much, according to a study by researchers from Erasmus University, INSEAD and Vanderbilt University. They found those claims can be very misleading, especially about nutrition and health.

Health Claims Analysis FrameworkThe researchers first developed a framework for analyzing food products’ front-of-package claims about health-related properties. They defined it by: (1) The extent to which a claim promotes the presence of positive attributes (e.g., protein) or absence of negative attributes (sugar), and (2) Whether a claim promotes nature (natural, unaltered qualities) or science (scientifically improved qualities).

The results showed fairly equal clusters in each quadrant, supporting the framework’s validity and the classification’s robustness across socio-demographic factors and attitudes toward nutrition.

Part 2: Relating Claim to NutritionThe researchers then focused on 460 breakfast cereals that made health or nutrition claims in March 2017. They categorized the 54 distinct claims in their framework. They also obtained each cereal’s British Food Standard Agency (FSA) score, a numerical rating of the product’s nutritional quality.

Relating the claims to the FSA scores showed that the type of claim was completely uncorrelated with nutritional quality. There was no relationship.

Part 4: Predicting Choices from ClaimsTo further analyze the effect of claim type on preference, the researchers had 611 female participants shop for cereal and milk for an imaginary teenager, who preferred either healthy, enjoyable or weight-loss foods.

They chose from 5 cereal boxes and 5 milk cartons. Four of each product had a different food claim, 1 had none.

The participants were more likely to choose products that had a claim, and the teenagers’ preferences strongly influenced the type of claim.

When it comes to implied health benefits, you can accept the near meaningless low fat or low sugar or high fiber. But why not read the nutrition label and find the actual content? Thanks for stopping by.